Bangladesh may set early elections

DHAKA, Bangladesh, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Bangladesh’s military-backed interim government may have parliamentary elections by next October.

It had been believed the election won;t not be contested before the end of 2008 but Chief Election Commissioner A.T.M. Shamsul Huda said there is a plan to have them by October of next year with the voter list getting ready by July, three months earlier than the current deadline, Daily Star reported Wednesday.

“The voter list with photographs should be ready in July next year if we can achieve our target in line with the projection. And in that case, the (parliamentary) elections can be held before October,” Huda said.

The task of voter list preparation was to have started next month but the report said the work actually began in August.

Bangladesh has been under emergency rule by the interim government since January after months of political violence largely between the country’s two main political parties.

Since it rose to power, the interim government has been cracking down on what it terms corruption. It also has been under growing pressure to have elections.